Getty Eagles receivers A.J. Brown and Quez Watkins celebrate a touchdown in Week 3 against Washington.
It was a weird day for A.J. Brown in Week 5 against the Arizona Cardinals. The All-Pro receiver started the game on the sideline before jumping in and making three catches for 32 yards on the opening drive. He wouldn’t make another reception on the day.
The Philadelphia Eagles switched up their offensive strategy, relying on a punishing ground game and working short screens. Brown would see seven total targets, compared to a whopping 20 targets for DeVonta Smith (11) and Dallas Goedert (9). They also ran it 33 times for 139 yards with two quarterback sneaks for touchdowns.
That’s just the way everything unfolded, according to offensive coordinator Shane Steichen. The coaching staff is very cognizant of target share. They are doing their best to get all their playmakers involved.
“We’re aware of that. We want to get all our guys the ball, and we say this every week. There’s one football, and we’re trying to get everyone targets and everyone footballs,” Steichen said. “In a perfect world we would love everybody to get eight, nine catches every game, but games are going to play out differently. Again, like I said, we want to get all our guys the ball.”
Eagles Mastering Art of Quarterback Sneak
Hurts finished with 15 carries for 61 yards, including two sneaks for touchdowns. He has six rushing scores, which ranks second in the NFL and first among all quarterbacks. The dual-threat playmaker has 19 rushing touchdowns in his first 25 career starts, breaking the record (18) previously held by Cam Newton.
Hurts cannot be stopped on the quarterback sneak. He’s too powerful and too motivated. The play has the highest percentage chance of getting a first down, according to Jason Kelce.
“It blows my mind how many teams do not run a f****** QB sneak with one goddam yard,” Kelce said on his New Heights podcast. “What the f*** are you doing? It’s a 92% chance. There is not a play in the playbook that has a higher % chance of working than a QB sneak.”
4th and 1. Game on the line. What are you running? … @JasonKelce says there’s only one right answer 👀
The Eagles converted 6 of 7 quarterback sneaks against Arizona. Yes, it works and Steichen admitted to Kelce’s words playing a factor in how much they use it.
“Shoot, yeah, if you listen to his podcast, it’s all about the QB sneak,” Steichen said. “What did we run? Up to seven of them I believe, and we got six of them. Need one yard, QB sneak.”
Cameron Dicker Earns NFC Special Teams Player of the Week
Make it five straight weekly awards for the Philadelphia Eagles. Replacement kicker Cameron Dicker has been named NFC Special Teams Player of the Week. He connected on two field goals on Sunday – a 23-yarder and a 42-yarder to win it – for eight total points.
Dicker was filling in for an injured Jake Elliott who was nursing a right ankle injury. The Eagles signed “Dicker the Kicker” on October 5 and threw him right into the fire. He practiced on Thursday, then went out there and nailed the game-winner three days later. No sweat.
“He was calm, cool, collected. Regardless of the situation, I thought Cam [Dicker] did an excellent job throughout the week of practice getting prepared for it,” special teams coordinator Michael Clay said. “Then come Saturday and Sunday, you talk to him, and he’s just very cool, like he doesn’t go high or low. So, it was actually really cool to see him go out there and perform like he did. It’s kudos to him, kudos to the field goal unit, the operation.”
Congratulations to @camerondicker, named NFC Special Teams Player of the Week!
Dicker is the fifth straight Eagles player to win a weekly award. He joins Zech McPhearson (Week 1, NFC Special Teams), Darius Slay (Week 2, NFC Defensive), Brandon Graham (Week 3, NFC Defensive), and Haason Reddick (Week 4, NFC Defensive).